Girl in a Band

Kim Gordon has produced a fairly entertaining, but in this reader's opinion, standard rock and roll autobio. I know that it is difficult for families to contend with a member having mental illness and Kim writes of that, but many families have such issues. And divorce is now ubiquitous, so hardly a subject. I suppose that when a fairly well known couple split acrimoniously, the public at large have an interest. Our generally mundane lives lit large?

The vast majority of Kim's book does cover her music with Sonic Youth and her art. That I liked the best as how music and art are made is always interesting to me. But the non-art side has to be very interesting to me, and Kim's domestic life away from her art is standard fare.

My mea culpa is that I have never purchased a Sonic Youth recording. When they first came to my attention in the early 80s I was very interested in Sonic Youth, the dissonance of their style was an attraction. But when others around me were playing them, so my then rather stupid music snobbery took over, and I let everyone else buy the records. I spent my money on the more obscure and way Kooler Dunedin Sound bands.

Which brings me to that youthful desire to be Kool that Kim wrote about occasionally where she said she is fairly shy and also wrote a few other self-depreciating thoughts as to herself. All well and good, but it takes a lot to be in a rock and roll band and seek some form of fame if you are scared of not being Kool and claim to be a bit lacking in confidence. I suppose that some would say that this attempt at fame is also an attempt at overcoming that shyness, especially for girls attracted to the arts. Be that as it may, in my opinion it takes a need to get up and perform, so shyness should not have come into the discussion. Kim was not scared to get on and do her art and damn the critics and the consequences, good on her for that.

On Page 153 of my copy, Kim tells an interesting though not unique tale of the cover art for the Sonic Youth album, Sister. The cover originally included a Richard Avedon picture. He threatened to sue, so the image was blacked out. Basically the band's art world was about appropriation, so that was normally not an issue. I had to look up who Richard Avedon was. I must say he is a fantastic photographer. With that even if he was not a fan of the music, an image of his on the album cover would have been a...............................Kool Thing.

Recommended to Sonic Youth admirers and those that thought Richard Avedon made a mistake.

Had high hopes this would finally make a Sonic Youth fan out of me but I'm honestly shocked how boring I found it. Kim Gordon has a pretty abstract, detached way of writing that makes all the events described feel very distant and almost like they were happening to someone else. Maybe it's just that I'm not very interested in middle class art gallery culture, or that I also read Michelle Zauner and Carrie Brownstein's memoirs recently and both were much more engaging.

I will continue to not have any real feelings about Sonic Youth I guess. Truly zero opinions on this band I spent 300 pages learning about.

The back half of this book was stacked but it took a while for it to click with me. I appreciate knowing her story but the way it was told left me with the sense that she felt unimpressed with her life and herself. Maybe I'm interpreting it wrong but I think she's cooler than she let on and I wish there was a moment of reflection on how influential she's been.

One sentence synopsis... Gordon records her life as an artist and bassist of Sonic Youth in a collage style memoir that borders on a series of Forest Gump style celebrity cameos. .

Read it if you like... ‘Sonic Youth', the No Wave movement, the arts scene and its commercialization in 80s New York. Super quick read, chapters are 3-4 pages long and it's sprinkled with tons of cool photos. .

Further reading... for a slightly better girl-in-band memoir check out Carrie Brownstein's book ‘Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl'. A little less name droppy and more reflective.

It echoes Just Kids' notion of an artist's journey being mainly about the people you meet along the way.

Thought I'd enjoy the book for the story as a Sonic Youth fan, did not expect to also love Kim Gordon for her writing. Great book.

reminds me a little of patti smith's Just kids: New York + male creative partner + art bands + art scenes.